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101-512: Mockingjay is a 2010 dystopian young adult fiction novel by American author Suzanne Collins . It is chronologically the last installment of The Hunger Games series , following 2008's The Hunger Games and 2009's Catching Fire . The book concludes the story of Katniss Everdeen , who agrees to unify the districts of Panem in a rebellion against the tyrannical Capitol . The hardcover and audiobook editions of Mockingjay were published by Scholastic on August 24, 2010, six days after

202-652: A cacotopia or anti-utopia , is a community or society that is extremely bad or frightening. It is often treated as an antonym of utopia , a term that was coined by Thomas More and figures as the title of his best known work , published in 1516, which created a blueprint for an ideal society with minimal crime, violence, and poverty. The relationship between utopia and dystopia is in actuality, not one of simple opposition, as many dystopias claim to be utopias and vice versa . Dystopias are often characterized by fear or distress, tyrannical governments, environmental disaster , or other characteristics associated with

303-403: A one-child policy place in this futuristic dystopian society. In a 1967 study, Frank Kermode suggests that the failure of religious prophecies led to a shift in how society apprehends this ancient mode. Christopher Schmidt notes that, while the world goes to waste for future generations, people distract themselves from disaster by passively watching it as entertainment. In the 2010s, there

404-478: A book to preserve the memory of those who died. Though still suffering nightmares from the entire ordeal, they comfort each other. Twenty years later, Katniss and Peeta are married and have two children. Under Paylor's administration, the Hunger Games are abolished with the arenas replaced by memorials. Katniss is happy with her new life and her family, but still carries mental and emotional scars, and dreads

505-566: A boot stamping on a human face – forever , would aptly describe the situation of the denizens in Dante's Hell. Conversely, Dante's famous inscription Abandon all hope, ye who enter here would have been equally appropriate if placed at the entrance to Orwell's " Ministry of Love " and its notorious " Room 101 ". Dystopias typically reflect contemporary sociopolitical realities and extrapolate worst-case scenarios as warnings for necessary social change or caution. Dystopian fictions invariably reflect

606-572: A cacotopia (or the imagined seat of the worst government) discovered and described". Though dystopia became the more popular term, cacotopia finds occasional use; Anthony Burgess , author of A Clockwork Orange (1962), said it was a better fit for Orwell's Nineteen Eighty-Four because "it sounds worse than dystopia". Some scholars, such as Gregory Claeys and Lyman Tower Sargent , make certain distinctions between typical synonyms of dystopias. For example, Claeys and Sargent define literary dystopias as societies imagined as substantially worse than

707-467: A cataclysmic decline in society. Themes typical of a dystopian society include: complete control over the people in a society through the usage of propaganda and police state tactics, heavy censoring of information or denial of free thought, worshiping an unattainable goal, the complete loss of individuality, and heavy enforcement of conformity. Despite certain overlaps, dystopian fiction is distinct from post-apocalyptic fiction, and an undesirable society

808-519: A crime. People were crucified in ancient Macedonia , Persia , Jerusalem , Phoenicia , Rome , and Carthage . Public executions were common in China from at least the Tang Dynasty. There are reports of public executions in early Islam. Documented public executions date back to at least the late medieval period , and peaked in the later sixteenth century. This peak was due in part to

909-539: A cure. Finnick and Annie marry. Katniss and Gale are sent to persuade District 2 to join the rebellion. Gale's strategy results in a decisive victory over District 2, enabling a final assault against the Capitol itself. Katniss is assigned to a squad and sent with a film crew to shoot propaganda in the Capitol. President Coin also sends Peeta, still dangerous and unpredictable; Katniss suspects Coin wants her dead for her lack of support and growing influence. While filming in

1010-414: A democracy, Coin intends to take Snow's place and maintain the status quo. Coin hosts a referendum for the remaining Victors on whether to host another Hunger Games for the Capitol children. Although three, including Peeta, are against the plan, Katniss, Haymitch, Johanna, and Enobaria outvote them. Katniss votes yes in order to get Coin to think that she was on her side, for Katniss realized that Prim's death

1111-536: A dystopian future, there's a better future." Minzesheimer also noted a central question of "Real or not real?" which was asked throughout the novel by Peeta. Susan Carpenter of the Los Angeles Times also pointed this out, writing, " Mockingjay takes readers into new territories and an even more brutal and confusing world: one where it's unclear what sides the characters are on, one where presumed loyalties are repeatedly stood on their head". Mockingjay

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1212-651: A general tendency to shield all death from public view. In France, authorities continued public executions up until 1939. Executions were made private after a secret film of serial killer Eugen Weidmann 's death by guillotine emerged and scandalized the process. Disturbing reports emerged of spectators soaking up Weidmann's blood in rags for souvenirs, and in response President Albert Lebrun banned public executions in France for "promoting baser instincts of human nature." Nazi Germany utilized public execution by hanging, shooting, and decapitation. In Great Britain, 1801 saw

1313-494: A joint venture of academia and government to promote an anti-traditionalist social agenda, are contemptuous of religion and require initiates to desecrate Christian symbols. Margaret Atwood 's novel The Handmaid's Tale takes place in a future United States under a Christian-based theocratic regime. In the Russian novel We by Yevgeny Zamyatin , first published in 1921, people are permitted to live out of public view twice

1414-416: A long time period, the roles were eventually reversed – the rich degenerated and became a decadent "livestock" regularly caught and eaten by the underground cannibal Morlocks. Some fictional dystopias, such as Brave New World and Fahrenheit 451 , have eradicated the family and kept it from re-establishing itself as a social institution. In Brave New World , where children are reproduced artificially,

1515-482: A starred review, saying that the novel is exactly what its fans are looking for and that "it will grab them and not let go". Susan Carpenter of the Los Angeles Times compared the battlefield to Iraq and said that the book is every bit as original as the first in the series, ending the review with "Wow". The Baltimore Sun 's Nancy Knight commented that the book "ends on an ostensibly happy note, but

1616-438: A supposedly safe Capitol neighborhood, the team's commander Boggs is fatally wounded; before dying, he gives Katniss the team's command. She decides to infiltrate the Capitol and kill Snow, telling her team that this was Coin's secret plan; she later reveals the lie, but the team sticks with her. In the ensuing urban warfare, many of Katniss's comrades are killed, including Finnick who is devoured by genetically-modified reptiles. As

1717-549: A vast industrial and mining complex, which is totally devoted to the production of ever more powerful and destructive weapons, and which is ruled by the dictatorial and totally ruthless Prof. Schultze – a militarist and racist who dreams of world conquest and as the first step plots the complete destruction of the nearby Ville-France, a utopian model city constructed and maintained with public health as its government's primary concern. The economic structures of dystopian societies in literature and other media have many variations, as

1818-429: A visit from Collins and an online countdown clock to the release date. There were also advertisements for the book on websites such as Entertainment Weekly and Romantic Times . National Entertainment Collectibles Association also sold other goods such as T-shirts, posters, games and bracelets. Collins also held a "13-District Blog Tour" where 13 winners received a free copy of Mockingjay on August 24, 2010. A tour

1919-427: A week for one hour and are only referred to by numbers instead of names. The latter feature also appears in the film THX 1138 . In some dystopian works, such as Kurt Vonnegut 's Harrison Bergeron , society forces individuals to conform to radical egalitarian social norms that discourage or suppress accomplishment or even competence as forms of inequality. Complete conformity and suppression of individuality (to

2020-579: A world in which Nazi Germany won the Second World War can be considered as dystopias. So can other works of Alternative History, in which a historical turning point led to a manifestly repressive world. For example, the 2004 mockumentary C.S.A.: The Confederate States of America , and Ben Winters ' Underground Airlines , in which slavery in the United States continues to the present, with "electronic slave auctions" carried out via

2121-534: A world we should like to live in, but one we must be sure to avoid. 1968 New Scientist 11 July 96/3 It is a pleasant change to read some hope for our future is trevor ingram ... I fear that our real future is more likely to be dystopian. See also Gregory Claeys. "When Does Utopianism Produce Dystopia?" in: Zsolt Czigányik, ed. Utopian Horizons. Utopia and Ideology – The Interaction of Political and Utopian Thought (Budapest: CEU Press, 2016), pp. 41–61. Public execution Most countries have abolished

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2222-504: Is also apparent in the trilogy as a whole; Collins stated that she "knew from the beginning" that she was going to write a trilogy. The cover and title information was revealed by Scholastic on February 11, 2010. The cover continues the previous books' theme on the symbol of peace. The novel's title comes from the hybrid birds of the same name that feature in the novels' storyline. As Publishers Weekly has stated, "the hybrid birds that are an important symbol—of hope and rebellion—throughout

2323-711: Is also explained in Suzanne Berne 's essay "Ground Zero", where she explains her experience of the aftermath of 11 September 2001. Fictional dystopias are commonly urban and frequently isolate their characters from all contact with the natural world. Sometimes they require their characters to avoid nature, as when walks are regarded as dangerously anti-social in Ray Bradbury's Fahrenheit 451 , as well as within Bradbury's short story " The Pedestrian ". In That Hideous Strength , science coordinated by government

2424-546: Is as bad as possible; opp. UTOPIA (cf. CACOTOPIA). So dystopian n., one who advocates or describes a dystopia; dystopian a., of or pertaining to a dystopia; dystopianism, dystopian quality or characteristics." The example of first usage given in the OED (1989 ed.) refers to the 1868 speech by John Stuart Mill quoted above. Other examples given in the OED include: 1952 Negley & Patrick Quest for Utopia xvii. 298 The Mundus Alter et Idem [of Joseph Hall] is...the opposite of eutopia,

2525-400: Is commonly called Utopian is something too good to be practicable; but what they appear to favour is too bad to be practicable". Decades before the first documented use of the word "dystopia" was "cacotopia"/"kakotopia" (using Ancient Greek : κακόs , "bad, wicked") originally proposed in 1818 by Jeremy Bentham , "As a match for utopia (or the imagined seat of the best government) suppose

2626-490: Is different. These are things that are very visceral and very obvious, and they make you question the future, and how we will survive. It's so much a part of everyday life that young people inevitably – consciously or not – are questioning their futures and how the Earth will be. I certainly do. I wonder what kind of world my children's kids will live in." The entire substantial sub-genre of alternative history works depicting

2727-403: Is directed toward the control of nature and the elimination of natural human instincts. In Brave New World , the lower class is conditioned to be afraid of nature but also to visit the countryside and consume transport and games to promote economic activity. Lois Lowry's " The Giver " shows a society where technology and the desire to create a utopia has led humanity to enforce climate control on

2828-434: Is later found dead, and rebel Commander Paylor of District 8 takes over as president. Katniss is acquitted of murder by reason of insanity and sent home to District 12, while her mother leaves for District 4 and Gale for District 2. Other District 12 natives later return, including Peeta, who has recovered his memories and his love for Katniss. She embraces him, recognizing her need for his hope and strength. Together, they write

2929-674: Is later used by Hugh Howey in his series of dystopias of the Silo Series . Excessive pollution that destroys nature is common in many dystopian films, such as The Matrix , RoboCop , WALL-E , April and the Extraordinary World and Soylent Green , as well as in videogames like Half-Life 2 . A few "green" fictional dystopias do exist, such as in Michael Carson 's short story " The Punishment of Luxury ", and Russell Hoban 's Riddley Walker . The latter

3030-408: Is not necessarily dystopian. Dystopian societies appear in many fictional works and artistic representations, particularly in historical fiction , such as A Tale of Two Cities (1859) by Charles Dickens , Quo Vadis? by Henryk Sienkiewicz , and A Man for All Seasons (1960) by Robert Bolt , stories set in the alternate history timelines, like Robert Harris ' Fatherland (1992), or in

3131-500: Is reflected in Norman Jewison 's 1975 film Rollerball (1975). Some dystopias, such as that of Nineteen Eighty-Four , feature black markets with goods that are dangerous and difficult to obtain or the characters may be at the mercy of the state-controlled economy. Kurt Vonnegut 's Player Piano depicts a dystopia in which the centrally controlled economic system has indeed made material abundance plentiful but deprived

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3232-720: Is set in the aftermath of nuclear war, "a post-nuclear holocaust Kent, where technology has reduced to the level of the Iron Age ". Contrary to the technologically utopian claims, which view technology as a beneficial addition to all aspects of humanity, technological dystopia concerns itself with and focuses largely (but not always) on the negative effects caused by new technology. Dystopian themes are in many television shows and video games such as Cyberpunk 2077 , Half Life 2 , The Hunger Games , Cyberpunk: Edgerunners , ' Blade Runner 2049 , Elysium and Titanfall . "An imaginary place or condition in which everything

3333-400: Is stressed, and the addition of other themes—the dangers of science and technology, of social inequality, of corporate dictatorship, of nuclear war—are also traced. A psychological approach is also favored here, with the principle of fear being identified with despotic forms of rule, carried forward from the history of political thought, and group psychology introduced as a means of understanding

3434-494: The Antichrist have taken over the world and the only remaining source of dissent is a tiny and persecuted Catholic minority. In Brave New World the establishment of the state included lopping off the tops of all crosses (as symbols of Christianity) to make them "T"s (as symbols of Henry Ford's Model T ). In C. S. Lewis 's That Hideous Strength the leaders of the fictional National Institute of Coordinated Experiments,

3535-404: The ebook edition went on sale. The book sold 450,000 copies in the first week of release, exceeding the publisher's expectations. It received critical acclaim. The book has been adapted into a two-part movie, with the first part released on November 21, 2014, and the second part released on November 20, 2015. Collins has said that the main inspiration for The Hunger Games series came from

3636-404: The witch trials of the early modern period . In the late Middle Ages, executioners used increasingly brutal methods designed to inflict pain on the victim while still alive and to generate a spectacle in order to deter others from committing crimes. The cruelty of the mode of execution (including the amount victims were tortured before the actual execution) was also more or less extreme depending on

3737-468: The "Mockingjay” – the symbol of the rebellion – for rebel propaganda , on the condition that District 13's President Alma Coin grants immunity to all surviving Hunger Games tributes, including Katniss's friend Peeta Mellark and Finnick's lover Annie Cresta, and agrees that Katniss will have the right to personally execute Panem President Coriolanus Snow . Katniss is sent to a hospital in District 8 to film

3838-473: The "slow cancellation of the future". Theo James , an actor in Divergent (originally a novel by Veronica Roth ), explains that "young people in particular have such a fascination with this kind of story [...] It's becoming part of the consciousness. You grow up in a world where it's part of the conversation all the time – the statistics of our planet warming up . The environment is changing. The weather

3939-536: The Australian colonial period, public executions continued until the second half of the 19th century, largely coinciding with the end of the convict era . They were abolished by the colonies of New South Wales (including present-day Queensland ), Van Diemen's Land (present-day Tasmania ) and Victoria in 1855, by South Australia in 1858, and by Western Australia in 1871. Public executions of Indigenous offenders continued in some jurisdictions in violation of

4040-406: The Capitol and Snow is to be publicly executed . She confronts Snow, who claims that Coin orchestrated the bombing to turn Snow's remaining supporters against him, reminding Katniss of how District 13 benefited from the revolution and of their promise never to lie to each other. Horrified, Katniss realizes Gale had earlier proposed a similar tactic. She becomes convinced that, rather than establishing

4141-406: The Earth in luxury with access to technologies that cure all diseases, reverse aging, and regenerate body parts. Written a century earlier, the future society depicted in H. G. Wells ' The Time Machine had started in a similar way to Elysium – the workers consigned to living and working in underground tunnels while the wealthy live on a surface made into an enormous beautiful garden. But over

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4242-1102: The Great abolished the death penalty in Kievan Rus ' following his conversion to Christianity in 988. During the 1970s, Liberian president William Tolbert used public hangings as a deterrent against crime, with sixteen convicted murderers hanged between 1971 and 1979. The public execution of the Harper Seven in 1979 over a series of witchcraft-related ritual murders attracted particular attention. According to Amnesty International , in 2012 "public executions were known to have been carried out in Iran , North Korea , Saudi Arabia and Somalia ." Amnesty International does not include Syria, Afghanistan, and Yemen in their list of public execution countries, but there have been reports of public executions carried out there by state and non-state actors , such as ISIL . Kuwait has sometimes executed people in public. The prisoners are taken to

4343-699: The Internet and slaves controlled by electronic devices implanted in their spines, or Keith Roberts Pavane in which 20th Century Britain is ruled by a Catholic theocracy and the Inquisition is actively torturing and burning "heretics". In When the Sleeper Wakes , H. G. Wells depicted the governing class as hedonistic and shallow. George Orwell contrasted Wells's world to that depicted in Jack London's The Iron Heel , where

4444-536: The Sower , Darkness at Noon , Nineteen Eighty-Four , Brave New World , The Handmaid's Tale , The Hunger Games , Divergent and Fahrenheit 451 and such films as Metropolis , Brazil (1985), Battle Royale , FAQ: Frequently Asked Questions , Soylent Green , The Purge: Election Year , Logan's Run , and The Running Man (1987). . An earlier example is Jules Verne 's The Begum's Millions with its depiction of Stahlstadt (Steel City),

4545-413: The book a starred review , calling it "the best yet, a beautifully orchestrated and intelligent novel that succeeds on every level". The review went on to praise the "sharp social commentary and the nifty world building". Nicole Sperling of Entertainment Weekly gave the book a B+ and said, "Collins has kicked the brutal violence up a notch in an edge-of-your-seat plot". Kirkus Reviews gave Mockingjay

4646-470: The book received a [REDACTED] [REDACTED] [REDACTED] [REDACTED] [REDACTED] (4.0 out of 5) based on critic reviews with a summary stating, "This dystopic-fantasy series," noted the Washington Post , "has had such tremendous crossover appeal that teens and parents may discover themselves vying for a nd talking about – the family copy of Mockingjay ". Publishers Weekly gave

4747-416: The book three out of four stars. The Christian Science Monitor reviewer Yvonne Zipp described it as "an entirely gripping read". Some critics noted that there was a suspense drop between Catching Fire and the start of Mockingjay . While a review from The Sacramento Bee praised the action scenes and the battle in the Capitol, the reviewer also criticized Collins for not giving enough time to finish all

4848-481: The books". Collins likens Katniss to a Mockingjay because both "should never have existed". Following Catching Fire , Katniss Everdeen , her mother, her sister Primrose Everdeen, mentor Haymitch Abernathy, and her friends Finnick Odair, Beetee and Gale Hawthorne, along with the survivors from District 12, adjust to life underground in District 13, headquarters of the rebellion in Panem. Katniss reluctantly agrees to be

4949-645: The classical account of Theseus and the Minotaur . In Greek mythology, as a punishment for the killing of King Minos 's son Androgeos , Athens was forced to sacrifice seven youths and seven maidens to Crete , who were then put in the Labyrinth and killed by the Minotaur. After a while, Theseus, the son of the Athenian king, decided to put an end to the Minotaur and Minos's terror, so he volunteered to join

5050-456: The concepts of "mother" and "father" are considered obscene . In some novels, such as We , the state is hostile to motherhood, as a pregnant woman from One State is in revolt. In dystopias, religious groups may play the role of oppressed or oppressor. One of the earliest examples is Robert Hugh Benson 's Lord of the World , about a futuristic world where Marxists and Freemasons led by

5151-415: The concerns and fears of their creators' contemporaneous culture. Due to this, they can be considered a subject of social studies . In dystopias, citizens may live in a dehumanized state, be under constant surveillance, or have a fear of the outside world. In the film What Happened to Monday the protagonists (identical septuplet sisters) risk their lives by taking turns onto the outside world because of

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5252-470: The conventional way but which the World Government describes as "savages". In George Orwell 's Nineteen Eighty-Four , the dystopian society described within has a tiered class structure with the ruling elite "Inner Party" at the top, the "Outer Party" below them functioning as a type of middle-class with minor privileges, and the working-class "Proles" (short for proletariat ) at the bottom of

5353-408: The convicted the opportunity to make a final speech, gave the state the chance to display its power in front of those who fell under its jurisdiction, and granted the public what was considered to be a great spectacle. Public executions also permitted the state to project its superiority over political opponents. People were publicly executed so that the public could see the consequences of committing

5454-424: The crime itself. Punishments often invoked the "purifying" powers of earth (burial), water (drowning), and fire (burning alive). Victims were also decapitated, quartered, hanged, and beaten. Bodies or body parts were often displayed in public places and authorities took pains to ensure that remains would stay visible for as long as possible. However, the death penalty was not used in all parts of Europe. Vladimir

5555-768: The crowds who would come to watch continued to be large and unruly. The last public execution in Great Britain occurred in 1868, after which capital punishment was carried out in the privacy of prisons. The last public execution in the United States occurred in 1936. As in Europe, the practice of execution was moved to the privacy of chambers. Viewing remains available for those related to the person being executed, victims' families, and sometimes reporters. Frances Larson wrote in her 2014 book Severed: A History of Heads Lost and Heads Found: "For as long as there were public executions, there were crowds to see them. In London in

5656-605: The day her children learn about their parents' involvement in the war and the Games. She tells her young daughter that when she feels distressed, she plays a comforting, repetitive game: reminding herself of every good thing she has ever seen someone do. The series ends with Katniss's reflection that there are much worse games to play. Reviews have noted many themes in the previous books that are also explored in Mockingjay . A review from The Baltimore Sun noted that "the themes of

5757-419: The death penalty entirely, either in law or in practice. While today most countries regard public executions with distaste, they have been practiced at some point in history nearly everywhere. At many points in the past, public executions were preferred to executions behind closed doors because of their capacity for deterrence . However, the actual efficacy of this form of terror is disputed. They also allowed

5858-471: The death penalty. The executions were announced on 27 July 2023, after a pause of five years starting from 2017. During the seventeenth century, the use of premortem torture decreased; instead bodies were desecrated after death and for display purposes. By the beginning of the eighteenth century, the number of capital punishments in Western Europe had fallen by about 85% from the previous century as

5959-462: The destruction that the Capitol has inflicted, and while Haymitch orders her to retreat as soon as a raid begins, she stays behind and fights before giving a speech that is broadcast in all twelve districts. The Capitol tortures Peeta to demoralize Katniss. A rescue team extracts Peeta along with the other captured victors, Johanna and Enobaria, but discovers that he has been brainwashed. He attempts to kill Katniss before being restrained while medics seek

6060-530: The dystopian rulers are brutal and dedicated to the point of fanaticism, which Orwell considered more plausible. The political principles at the root of fictional utopias (or "perfect worlds") are idealistic in principle and result in positive consequences for the inhabitants; the political principles on which fictional dystopias are based, while often based on utopian ideals, result in negative consequences for inhabitants because of at least one fatal flaw . Dystopias are often filled with pessimistic views of

6161-463: The early 19th century, there might have been 5,000 to watch a standard hanging, but crowds of up to 100,000 came to see a famous felon killed. The numbers hardly changed over the years. An estimated 20,000 watched Rainey Bethea hang in 1936, in what turned out to be the last public execution in the U.S." In the US, members of the public can visit the jail where an execution is about to take place. During

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6262-502: The economic system is not the source of the society's flaws, as in Brave New World , the state often controls the economy; a character, reacting with horror to the suggestion of not being part of the social body, cites as a reason that works for everyone else. Other works feature extensive privatization and corporatism ; both consequences of capitalism , where privately owned and unaccountable large corporations have replaced

6363-405: The economy often relates directly to the elements that the writer is depicting as the source of the oppression. There are several archetypes that such societies tend to follow. A theme is the dichotomy of planned economies versus free market economies, a conflict which is found in such works as Ayn Rand 's Anthem and Henry Kuttner 's short story "The Iron Standard". Another example of this

6464-406: The environment, as well as to eliminate many undomesticated species and to provide psychological and pharmaceutical repellent against human instincts. E. M. Forster 's " The Machine Stops " depicts a highly changed global environment which forces people to live underground due to an atmospheric contamination. As Angel Galdon-Rodriguez points out, this sort of isolation caused by external toxic hazard

6565-571: The film Blade Runner , influenced by and based upon Dick's novel). Dystopian fiction frequently draws stark contrasts between the privileges of the ruling class and the dreary existence of the working class. In the 1931 novel Brave New World by Aldous Huxley , a class system is prenatally determined with Alphas, Betas, Gammas, Deltas and Epsilons, with the lower classes having reduced brain function and special conditioning to make them satisfied with their position in life. Outside of this society there also exist several human settlements that exist in

6666-422: The first chapter of the novel, explaining that she would read with an accent since Katniss, the narrator, is from Appalachia . By midnight, copies were being sold with a signature stamp since Collins had a hand injury and was unable to sign. Before the release, Scholastic also released a trailer for the book, launched a Facebook page that gained over 22,000 fans in 10 days, and held a contest for booksellers to win

6767-501: The future. Famous examples set in the future included Robert Hugh Benson 's Lord of the World (1907), Yevgeny Zamyatin 's We (1920), Aldous Huxley 's Brave New World (1932), George Orwell 's Nineteen Eighty-Four (1949), and Ray Bradbury 's Fahrenheit 451 (1953). Dystopian societies appear in many sub-genres of fiction and are often used to draw attention to society, environment , politics, economics, religion, psychology, ethics, science, or technology. Some authors use

6868-466: The gallows and once a senior police officer gives the signed warrant, the prisoners are hanged. Amnesty International's Interim Deputy Director for the Middle East and North Africa, Rawya Rageh, criticized Kuwait's execution of five individuals, including one for a drug-related offense, as a return to executions with "vigour," urging the establishment of a moratorium on executions towards abolishing

6969-587: The government in setting policy and making decisions. They manipulate, infiltrate, control, bribe, are contracted by and function as government. This is seen in the novels Jennifer Government and Oryx and Crake and the movies Alien , Avatar , RoboCop , Visioneers , Idiocracy , Soylent Green , WALL-E and Rollerball . Corporate republics are common in the cyberpunk genre, as in Neal Stephenson 's Snow Crash and Philip K. Dick 's Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? (as well as

7070-431: The heartbreaking effects of war and loss aren't sugar-coated" and that it will have readers thinking about the effects of war on society. Katie Roiphe of The New York Times said it is "the perfect teenage story with its exquisitely refined rage against the cruel and arbitrary power of the adult world". However, she criticized that it was not as "impeccably plotted" as The Hunger Games . Bob Minzesheimer of USA Today gave

7171-411: The hierarchy with few rights, yet making up the vast majority of the population. In Ypsilon Minus by Herbert W. Franke , people are divided into numerous alphabetically ranked groups. In the film Elysium , the majority of Earth's population on the surface lives in poverty with little access to health care and are subject to worker exploitation and police brutality , while the wealthy live above

7272-457: The ideal society: it is a dystopia, if it is permissible to coin a word. 1962 C. WALSH From Utopia to Nightmare 11 The 'dystopia' or 'inverted utopia'. Ibid. 12 Stories...that seemed in their dystopian way to be saying something important. Ibid. ii. 27 A strand of utopianism or dystopianism. 1967 Listener 5 Jan. 22 The modern classics Aldous Huxley's Brave New World and George Orwell's Nineteen Eighty Four are dystopias. They describe not

7373-488: The initial print run up to 1.6 million. Scholastic Trade president Ellie Berger said that sales "have exceeded all expectations". The book has also been released in e-book format and topped sales in the week ending with August 29, 2010, beating out The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo , which had held the top spot since April. The other Hunger Games books have also made it in the top ten, with the first book at fifth and

7474-414: The last of her squad reaches Snow's mansion, a hovercraft bearing the Capitol seal drops bombs among a group of children being used as human shields. Rebel medics, including Prim, rush in to help the injured children, and the remaining bombs detonate. Prim is killed, and Katniss sustains severe burns. As she recuperates, Katniss, profoundly depressed over her sister's death, learns the rebels have taken over

7575-520: The last public execution at Tyburn Hill , after which all executions in York took place within the walls of York Castle (but still publicly) so that "the entrance to the town should not be annoyed by dragging criminals through the streets." In London, those sentenced to death at the Old Bailey would remain at Newgate Prison and wait for their sentences to be carried out in the street. As at Tyburn,

7676-671: The legal system shifted toward one that considered human rights as well as a more rational approach to criminal justice that centered around identifying the best methods for deterrence. However, there were several resurgences throughout the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, especially during times of social unrest. Executions were condemned by eighteenth-century Enlightenment thinkers like Jeremy Bentham and Cesare Beccaria . Enlightenment thinkers were not universally opposed to public executions—many anatomists found executions useful because they supplied healthy body parts to study and experiment on. People also found postmortem torture (which

7777-579: The legislation. In South Australia and Western Australia, public executions were subsequently reintroduced solely for Indigenous Australian offenders, in 1861 and 1875 respectively, on the basis that they were needed as a deterrent against frontier violence against white settlers. Public executions for Indigenous offenders were not formally abolished until 1971 in South Australia and 1952 in Western Australia, respectively, although

7878-402: The loose ends, writing that "the disappointment with Mockingjay hits primarily as Collins starts her home stretch. It's almost as if she didn't allocate enough time or chapters to handle all her threads". The Hunger Games trilogy was adapted into a series of films, with the stars of the 2012 film The Hunger Games signed on for all four films. Mockingjay was split into two parts; Part 1

7979-455: The mass of humanity of meaningful labor; virtually all work is menial, unsatisfying and only a small number of the small group that achieves education is admitted to the elite and its work. In Tanith Lee 's Don't Bite the Sun , there is no want of any kind – only unabashed consumption and hedonism, leading the protagonist to begin looking for a deeper meaning to existence. Even in dystopias where

8080-442: The morality involved in tactics used to try to overthrow the rotting, immoral government, and they pay a high cost for those tactics." Katie Roiphe of The New York Times wrote that "it is the perfect teenage story with its exquisitely refined rage against the cruel and arbitrary power of the adult world." In a review for USA Today , Bob Minzesheimer pointed out that the novel contained optimism: "Hope emerges from despair. Even in

8181-659: The murderers on the spot has done much to make these natives fall in with the wishes of the government". Following the Japanese occupation of New Guinea , 22 New Guinean civilians convicted of collaboration offences – members of the Orokaiva people – were publicly executed by the Australian New Guinea Administrative Unit (ANGAU) in 1943 and 1944. The hangings were intended as a deterrent against other prospective collaborationists, with

8282-591: The name "Panem" came from the Latin phrase " Panem et Circenses ", which means "Bread and Circuses" and refers to the strategy used by Roman emperors to appease the masses by providing them with food and entertainment (Juvenal, Satires , 10.81). As with the previous books in the trilogy, Mockingjay contains 27 chapters, with nine chapters in each of the three parts. This structure, which Collins had previously used in her series The Underland Chronicles , came from Collins's playwriting background. This "three-act" structure

8383-400: The only viable political and economic system, but also that it is now impossible even to imagine a coherent alternative to it"—and used the above quote as the title to the opening chapter of his book, Capitalist Realism: Is There No Alternative? . In the book, he also refers to dystopian film such as Children of Men (originally a novel by P. D. James ) to illustrate what he describes as

8484-511: The point of acting in unison) is also depicted in Madeleine L'Engle 's A Wrinkle in Time . Violence is prevalent in many dystopias, often in the form of war, but also in urban crimes led by (predominately teenage) gangs (e.g. A Clockwork Orange ), or rampant crime met by blood sports (e.g. Battle Royale , The Running Man , The Hunger Games , Divergent , and The Purge ). It

8585-630: The provisions of the criminal codes were long considered dormant. The last public execution in Western Australia took place in February 1892, where three Indigenous men convicted of murder were hanged at the scene of the crime near Halls Creek, Western Australia , in front of around 70 witnesses. Public executions were abolished in New Zealand by the Executions of Criminals Act 1858 , which specified that executions had to be carried out "within

8686-459: The relationship between utopia and dystopia. Andrew Norton-Schwartzbard noted that "written many centuries before the concept "dystopia" existed, Dante 's Inferno in fact includes most of the typical characteristics associated with this genre – even if placed in a religious framework rather than in the future of the mundane world, as modern dystopias tend to be". In the same vein, Vicente Angeloti remarked that " George Orwell 's emblematic phrase,

8787-513: The ruling class or a government that is brutal or uncaring, ruling with an "iron fist". Dystopian governments are sometimes ruled by a fascist or communist regime or dictator. These dystopian government establishments often have protagonists or groups that lead a " resistance " to enact change within their society, as is seen in Alan Moore 's V for Vendetta . Dystopian political situations are depicted in novels such as We , Parable of

8888-527: The second book taking eighth. As of March 2012, the book has sold over 9 million copies. To promote the release of Mockingjay , many bookstores held midnight release parties. The official event in New York City was attended by Collins, and included many activities such as a tarot card reader, a magician, jugglers and face-painters. Prizes such as signed copies of Catching Fire and Hunger Games-themed cups were raffled. Once Collins arrived, she read

8989-470: The series, including physical hardships, loyalty in extreme circumstances and traversing morally ambiguous terrain, are continued at an even larger scale." In the book, Katniss must deal with betrayal and violence against people. At the same time, while she was symbolically touching thousands of lives, she must also lead those people into war. Finally, Katniss realizes she cannot even trust President Coin , leader of District 13. In an interview with Collins, it

9090-507: The society in which the author writes. Some of these are anti-utopias , which criticise attempts to implement various concepts of utopia. In the most comprehensive treatment of the literary and real expressions of the concept, Dystopia: A Natural History , Claeys offers a historical approach to these definitions. Here the tradition is traced from early reactions to the French Revolution . Its commonly anti-collectivist character

9191-507: The term to refer to existing societies, many of which are, or have been, totalitarian states or societies in an advanced state of collapse. Dystopias, through an exaggerated worst-case scenario, often make a criticism about a current trend, societal norm, or political system. "Dustopia", the original spelling of "dystopia", first appeared in Lewis Henry Younge's Utopia: or Apollo's Golden Days in 1747. Additionally, dystopia

9292-559: The third group of victims, ultimately killing the Minotaur and leading his companions out of the monster's Labyrinth. Collins has said that there are also many parallels between the Roman Empire and the fictional nation of Panem . She describes the Hunger Games as "an updated version of the Roman gladiator games, which entails a ruthless government forcing people to fight to the death as popular entertainment." Collins also explains that

9393-666: The walls or the enclosed yard of some gaol, or within some other enclosed space". The act came into force on 3 June 1858, three months after the country's last public hanging in central Auckland. In the Australian-administered Territory of New Guinea , legally a League of Nations mandate after 1920, public executions were used as a "tool of government". In 1933, a district officer reported that two executions in New Britain had been carried out before crowds of hundreds of people, and that "execution of

9494-404: Was a surge of popular dystopian young adult literature and blockbuster films. Some have commented on this trend, saying that "it is easier to imagine the end of the world than it is to imagine the end of capitalism ". Cultural theorist and critic Mark Fisher identified the phrase as encompassing the theory of capitalist realism —the perceived "widespread sense that not only is capitalism

9595-613: Was also scheduled, starting at Books of Wonder in New York where the official party took place. The tour ended on November 6, 2010, in the Third Place Books store in Lake Forest Park, Washington. Mockingjay has received critical acclaim. According to Book Marks , the novel received a "rave" consensus, based on eleven critic reviews: nine "rave" and two "positive". In November/December 2010 issue of Bookmarks ,

9696-475: Was caused by Coin (Coin sent Prim to her death knowing that the bombs would kill her in the battle in an effort to gain Katniss's support, for Katniss had a strong influence over the citizens of Panem). At Snow's execution, Katniss is supposed to carry out the death sentence, but goes rogue and shoots Coin instead. She immediately attempts suicide, but Peeta stops her, and she is arrested in the ensuing riot. Snow

9797-450: Was first released in the US and Canada on August 24, 2010. The UK, New Zealand and Australia received the book one day later, on August 25, 2010. The audiobook was released simultaneously on August 24, 2010, by Scholastic Audio. The book had a 1.2 million-copy first printing that was bumped up from 750,000. In its first week of release, the book sold over 450,000 copies. Following this, Scholastic printed an additional 400,000 copies, bringing

9898-508: Was noted that the series "tackles issues like severe poverty, starvation, oppression, and the effects of war." Collins replied that this inspiration was from her father, who, when going to war in Vietnam, made sure that his children understood the consequences and effects of war. Yvonne Zipp of The Christian Science Monitor noted that it was "the most brutal of the trilogy" and that "Collins doesn't take war lightly – her characters debate

9999-411: Was released on November 21, 2014, and Part 2 was released on November 20, 2015. Francis Lawrence , director of The Hunger Games: Catching Fire , returned to direct the two final films in the series. Julianne Moore played President Coin. Dystopia A dystopia (from Ancient Greek δυσ ( dus )  'bad' and τόπος ( tópos )  'place'), also called

10100-530: Was typically part of a public execution) disrespectful to the dead and believed that it could prevent the victim from getting into heaven. The first modern abolition of capital punishment was in Tuscany in 1786. In Europe, the 19th and early 20th centuries saw a shift away from the spectacle of public capital punishment and toward private executions and the deprivation of liberty (e.g. incarceration , probation , community service , etc.). This coincided with

10201-509: Was used as an antonym for utopia by John Stuart Mill in one of his 1868 Parliamentary Speeches ( Hansard Commons ) by adding the prefix "dys" ( Ancient Greek : δυσ- "bad") to "topia", reinterpreting the initial "u" as the prefix "eu" ( Ancient Greek : ευ- "good") instead of "ou" ( Ancient Greek : οὐ "not"). It was used to denounce the government's Irish land policy: "It is, perhaps, too complimentary to call them Utopians, they ought rather to be called dys-topians, or caco-topians. What

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